Liverpool star midfielder Philippe Coutinho has won the prestigious Samba Gold award, also known as the Samba d'Or, which is presented to the best Brazilian player in Europe by the Sambafoot Company. The lethal player won the award in December but it was officially delivered to him on Wednesday at Liverpool's Melwood training ground.
The 24-year-old is now the sixth winner of the award. Previous winners include Kaka in 2008, Luis Fabiano in 2009, Maicon in 2010, Thiago Silva in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and Neymar in 2014 and 2015. Speaking after receiving the award, he said:
“It means a lot. I'm very happy to know that this past year I have been recognised by many people. It was an important year for me and I'm very happy to win this award.
“It was a good year. As a team, we played very well and we managed to get to two finals.''
The Merseyside club also tweeted about their superstar's historic achievement
@Phil_Coutinho has his hands on the Samba Gold award!
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 23, 2017
His delight at receiving the prize: https://t.co/0zlFBT0JRc pic.twitter.com/WsLthRjIg5
“Unfortunately, we did not win the finals, we lost. That was a very difficult time for us to deal with the defeat [to Sevilla] but this certainly made the group stronger.
“We started the season very well, at a high level. We all played very well, so, of course, 2016 was a good year. In the end I got injured, I missed a few games at the end of the year, but it was a positive year.”
He scored 18 goals for the reds last year and was instrumental in his side's journey to the Europa League final in Basel where they lost 3-1 to holders Sevilla. In the 2016/17 season, he has already found the back of the net six times and provided five assists in all competitions for the Anfield outfit.
